The 2022 Keeneland January sale began a day later than originally scheduled, necessitated by up to 9 inches of snow dumped on the area late the week before, to ensure the safety of horses and people traveling to the sale.

I have a long-standing habit of attending sales, seeing progeny of horses I enjoyed watching race and in some cases the horses themselves I watched race. This time, I specifically attended for a horse I never saw race (though she is by American Pharoah, whose progeny I have enjoyed following both because he’s from a favorite sire line of mine and to see how they perform for the first Triple Crown winner in my lifetime). While her race career ended up being undistinguished after two races, American Heiress still does and will continue to hold a special place in my heart. For through MyRacehorse, she is the first horse I ever got a chance to have a small ownership stake in and a lot of what drove that I was smitten with her from photos online and couldn’t get the chance to buy in out of my mind. I bought a microshare and then met her late in her yearling year. She is incredibly sweet and my connection to her grew.

Along the route to her racing, from frequent My Racehorse updates, I learned a lot about preliminary horse training that I had never known before.

I saw her once more at two, when she had begun initial training on the track. It didn’t work out to attend any of her races, so my next chance to interact with her was at this sale.

I went on the preview day of January 10, the day that would have been when she originally sold. She was quite popular with potential buyers, out of her stall to be viewed frequently the short time I was there. Right after I arrived and she was on the way back to her stall, she stopped before she reached it and looked at me, and her show person commented on how she was looking. I couldn’t resist then asking to pat her, and he kindly paused to let me. He probably realized how American Heiress (or Luna, as I think of her) does love attention, and it certainly seemed she was seeking that. Another person working for Taylor Made, her consignor, attested to Luna still having that incredibly sweet nature and wanting to love on everybody and I was so happy to oblige and have that moment one-on-one.

It was a beautiful moment of connection that I hoped to have before she changed hands and lived a more private life as a broodmare.

I came back the next day to see her sell. It felt like seeing her get a chance to shine on stage, maybe because I never got to see her race. I thought it would be emotional because of the connection I feel with her, but it was not.

The sense of it being like a chance to see her shine, which I wanted for her, caught me by surprise, but perhaps it shouldn’t for that’s all I wanted for her. She did bring the first six figure price of the sale (though not that many horses had sold by the time she did), going to Springhouse Farm for $180,000. They are local to Lexington, so perhaps I will see some of her progeny race in this vicinity one day, which I told the My Racehorse racing manager was my hope now regarding her, prior to the sale. He was on-site to take video of her in the walking ring for the My Racehorse website, as an investor update.

So that felt like it neatly closed the book on my investment in her, though I know she will be special to me all her life. And I am curious to hear who the first stallion she goes to will be, but I am actually glad it was not overly emotional to watch her go, for that would have meant difficulty accepting what was to be. And I have found myself lately in a better place about doing that, and this became one more example of that.

I rarely fly into my local airport in Lexington, so I loved seeing the nods to horse racing in the form of stallion advertisements within and the horse statues outside, as well as the unbeatable view of Keeneland and Calumet from the sky, which I craned to see. I couldn’t remember if I had ever known Calumet has a training track, never visible from the road, so I enjoyed that aspect of discovery from the overhead view.

It struck me upon exiting the area of the airport reserved for flight passengers how it was like a symbolic exit from one year to the next, as the days of 2021 were nearly gone. Even with a few years recently that have been challenging, it was also a reminder there’s always reason to hope. And these stallion ads did represent hope for the future, of what their foals may be.

A few days later, I paid a visit to Silver Springs and Spendthrift, looking in on a few horses I’ve invested in through MyRacehorse and a few they own that I haven’t, like Vow. It was good to round out the year with horse time, always restorative to me. A few barn cats tagged along, enlivening the tour further with their presences.

Then it was on to Spendthrift, primarily to see Authentic, who I believe each of the three of us on the tour had invested in. Before going to the stallion barns, we paused outside of the breeding shed, noting that 2020 stakes winners conceived at Spendthrift had recently had their names added, including Authentic.

Recent rains had left mud irresistible to each of the stallions, just being brought up from their paddocks upon our group’s arrival to have a meal in their stalls. Mud did not distract from his eye-catching appearance. He presented himself well. I approached after a few moments, tentatively reaching out a hand to have a personal interaction. A lot had changed for me since I saw him previously in May, and I had forgotten he had a kind nature. Still best to approach a stallion without assuming, but he sniffed my hand without causing me concern he’d nip.

Our guide, the MyRacehorse concierge, related once more how this U-shaped barn was built for insurance purposes, to fulfill requirements to house a horse of Nashua’s value, and was sometimes called “the Nashua Motel.” While Authentic does not reside in that barn, it makes a glorious backdrop for him during the time he stood there for our visit. His barn is magnificent too, with its elegant craftsmanship seen in the fine wood and the lights that hang within. It frames trees that offer a pleasing symmetry near the breeding shed, catching my eye even without their leaves. Given how unseasonably warm that day was, it wasn’t too far-fetched to almost expect leaves to be budding! It did make the visit more pleasant than one may expect for late December.

All was quiet, as expected in the interim between breeding seasons, and yet the stalls that would receive mares paying a visit to be bred were already filled with shavings. On the cusp of a new year, and the universal birthday of all this hemisphere’s Thoroughbreds, the expectation of what would be and the rhythm of life on the farm continued.